by Jane Porter
Chapter XXX.
The Barns of Ayr.
Morning was spreading in pale light over the heavens, and condensingwith its cold breath the lurid smoke which still ascended in volumesfrom the burning ruins, when Wallace, turning round at the glad voiceof Edwin, beheld the released nobles. This was the first time he hadever seen the Lords Dundaff and Ruthven; but several of the others heremembered having met at the fatal decision of the crown; and, whilewelcoming to his friendship those to whom his valor had given freedom,how great was his surprise to see, in the person of a prisoner suddenlybrought before him, Sir John Monteith; the young chieftain whom he hadparted with a few months ago at Douglas; and from whose fatalinvitation to that castle he might date the ruin of his dearesthappiness, and all the succeeding catastrophe!
"We found Sir John Monteith amongst the slain before the palace," saidKer; "he, of the whole party, alone breathed; I knew him instantly.How he came there I know not; but I have brought him hither to explainit himself." Ker withdrew, to finish the interment of the dead.
Monteith, still leaning on the arm of a soldier, grasped Wallace'shand. "My brave friend!" cried he, "to owe my liberty to you is atwofold pleasure; for," added he, in a lowered voice, "I see before methe man who is to verify the words of Baliol; and be not only theguardian, but the possessor of the treasure he committed to our care!"
Wallace, who had never thought on the coffer, since he knew it wasunder the protection of St. Fillan, shook his head. "A far differentneed do I seek, my friend!" said he; "to behold these happycountenances of my liberated countrymen is greater reward to me thanwould be the development of all the splendid mysteries which the headof Baliol could devise."
"Ay!" cried Dundaff, who overheard this part of the conversation, "weinvited the usurpation of a tyrant by the docility with which wesubmitted to his minion. Had we rejected Baliol, we had never beenridden by Edward. But the rowel has gored the flanks of us all! andwho amongst us will not lay himself and fortune at the foot of him whoplucks away the tyrant's heel?"
"It all held our cause in the light that you do," returned Wallace,"the blood which these Southrons have sown would rise up in tenthousand legions to overwhelm the murderers!"
"But how," inquired he, turning to Monteith, "did you happen to be inAyr at this period? and how, above all, amongst the slaughteredSouthrons at the palace?"
Sir John Monteith readily replied: "My adverse fate accounts for all."He then proceeded to inform Wallace, that on the very night in whichthey parted at Douglas, Sir Arthur Heselrigge was told the story of thebox: and accordingly sent to have Monteith brought prisoner to Lanark.He lay in the dungeons of its citadel at the very time Wallace enteredthat town and destroyed the governor. Though the Scots did not pursuethe advantage offered by the transient panic into which the retributionthrew their enemies, care was immediately taken by the Englishlieutenant to prevent a repetition of the same disasters; and, inconsequence, every suspected person was seized, and those already inconfinement loaded with chains. Monteith being known as a friend ofWallace, was sent under a strong guard toward Stirling, there to standhis trial before Cressingham and the English Justiciary, Ormsby. "By alucky chance," said he, "I made my escape; but I was soon retaken byanother party, and conveyed to Ayr, where the Lieutenant-governorArnuf, discovering my talents for music, compelled me to sing at hisentertainments."
"For this purpose, he last night confined me in the banqueting-room atthe palace, and thus, when the flames surrounded that building, I foundmyself exposed to die the death of a traitor, though then as muchoppressed as any other Scot. Snatching up a sword, and striving tojoin my brave countrymen, the Southrons impeded my passage, and I fellunder their arms."
Happy to have rescued his old acquaintance from further indignities,Wallace committed him to Edwin to lead into the citadel. Then takingthe colors of Edward from the ground (where the Southron officer hadlaid them), he gave them to Sir Alexander Scrymgeour, with orders tofill their former station on the citadel with the standard of Scotland.This action he considered as the seal of each victory; as the beaconwhich, seen from afar, would show the desolate Scots where to find aprotector, and from what ground to start when courage should promptthem to assert their rights.
The standard was no sooner raised than the proud clarion of triumph wasblown from every warlike instrument in the garrison and the Southroncaptain, placing himself at the head of his disarmed troops, under theescort of Murray, marched out of the castle. He announced his designto proceed immediately to Newcastle, and thence embark with his men tojoin their king at Flanders. Not more than two hundred followed theirofficer in this expedition, for not more were English; the rest, tonearly double that number, being, like the garrison of Dumbarton, Irishand Welsh, were glad to escape enforced servitude. Some parted off indivisions to return to their respective countries, while a few, whoseenergetic spirits preferred a life of warfare in the cause of a countrystruggling for freedom, before returning to submit to the oppressors oftheir own, enlisted under the banners of Wallace.
Some other necessary regulations being then made, he dismissed hisgallant Scots, to find refreshment in the well-stored barracks of thedispersed Southrons, and retired himself to join his friends in thecitadel.